Cold Embrace

If that was the case, then everything made sense.

The unknown visitor "Sevia?" who had sent her the email at the very beginning was an NPC deduced by Oasis, like an electronic ghost in the flood of data, guiding her through this dungeon step by step.

First, leaving a view of her back in the tavern to let her know of her existence, then sending text messages to lead her to the prison, and just now appearing to use the sound of the flute to help them escape danger.

"Sevia?" seemed to be in some kind of state of program malfunction, sometimes lucid and sometimes chaotic; the text message received at the guild base had been sent to her unconsciously by the other party.

The other party must have been lucid just now...

She wanted me to give her a hug?

But why was she unwilling to appear before her?

Was the person to be hugged really this "Sevia?"?

The real Sevia had come to this city in reality, which was why Oasis reproduced her in the dungeon; if the real-world Pangard had already been destroyed, then Sevia should have left Oasis by then...

A strange thought suddenly arose in Xu Xiaoyou's heart.

Was this dungeon really reproduced by Oasis based on disasters that had already occurred?

Just as she was thinking this, she received a new email.

"Sevia?: Come to the depths of the prison, I am waiting for you there."

"Sevia?: Even if I am cold, please... please give me a hug."

In the badlands, in the city of Pangard.

"Hey, little sheep, it wasn't easy for me to bring you in from outside the city, so at least say something to me. Please, it's very boring to be cooped up alone," Atula said with a shrug.

"Please do not strike up a conversation with me so casually."

Walking through the city, Sevia observed her surroundings; the houses on both sides were low and dilapidated, with doors and windows tightly shut.

The wide streets paved with stone bricks were deserted, and several patrol convoys of soldiers passed by; they were responsible for cleaning the city's sanitation and hunting rats in the streets.

After General Belisa's policies were implemented, people were forbidden from dumping excrement and garbage onto the streets at will.

Even so, the stench above the streets and alleys still lingered, the smell having long been etched into the stone bricks and slabs.

Sevia tried hard to calm her mind and tightened her gray robes, ensuring that except for her boots, no part of her clothing would touch the ground.

Even in the badlands, she still could not tolerate staining herself with any filth other than dust, maintaining her habit of washing her body every night.

At this time, a commotion not far away caught her attention.

"I don't want to go to the prison... I beg of you, Lord Guards, do not send me to the prison. That place is hell, I will die there!"

An old woman was being dragged out by two tall soldiers; she even knelt on the ground, pleading bitterly. Whether because her movements were too violent or she could not catch her breath, the old woman coughed rapidly, her entire face turning bright red.

The two soldiers remained unmoved. Sevia stood silently on the spot, watching them drag the old woman onto a carriage.

Since there were many other people on the carriage, their identities could be distinguished by their clothing: merchants, high-ranking officials and nobles, craftsmen, and thugs.

Most had faces as ash-gray as the earth and numb, desperate eyes. They were being sent to the prison as if that place really was, as the old woman said, a living hell from which no one returned.

And all of this was not because they had committed unforgivable sins.

Sevia noticed that a black deathly aura permeated those people; they were emaciated, with egg-sized lumps distributed in their armpits and inner thighs, and their skin was bruised and cyanotic.

Some people in the carriage had even fallen into a coma; perhaps that person was already dead, with thick, stagnant blood flowing from their seven orifices as flies circled their body.

These people were all sick.

In the darkness, the reaper brandished his scythe over the city, ruthlessly harvesting people's lives.

There were few citizens watching, their hearts heavy with worry.

"Mrs. Meren is sick too."

"Sigh, what are we going to do if this continues?" A woman on the second floor closed her window.

"It's all because that kid Ethan snitched. Now look what's happened; Mrs. Meren definitely won't come back after going to the prison. Who's going to give us food now?" a homeless man shouted indignantly, swinging his fist. Because he was too excited, he lost his breath and began to cough violently.

His coughing attracted the attention of the soldiers; before he could run far, he was dragged onto the carriage by his hair, following the patrolling carriage as it gradually drove away.

The soldiers did not warn the nearby residents.

The street fell into a deathly silence; everyone was in fear for themselves and spoke no more.

"Where are they going?" Sevia asked.

"Who knows. Maybe they'll go to the prison, maybe they'll go to hell. If they are members of the titan race, their souls will return to Turatan to rest in peace after death," Atula answered.

"This time, you were the one to strike up a conversation with me first."

Sevia knew she was in the wrong and blinked.

"General Belisa concentrated all the sick people in the city into the prison. At the beginning of this plague, she closed the city gates and dug several large pits outside the city to bury the bodies."

When Atula spoke of General Belisa, her face was full of pride.

This General Belisa was also a member of the titan race. It was said that when she was born, the fields were as vibrant as fire and the stars were like torches; a golden ox-headed carriage suddenly arrived in the sky, and sitting inside was not a god, but a blazing fireseed.

This fireseed flew toward a bronze cauldron, and the soaring flames turned the night veil into a golden canopy. Since then, Turatan had no more eternal night, and when the warriors went to war, the thunder sounded like the beating of drums.

The titan race considered her to be the offspring of a heavenly god and their people, revering her as a demigod and believing she would bring blessing and protection to the race.

"So, why did the plague still spread?" Sevia asked.

Undoubtedly, this general's epidemic prevention measures were as swift and decisive as could be, controlling the palace and placing the king under house arrest before the plague broke out.

Afterward, a series of measures were taken, not even sparing those with suspected symptoms.

Sevia did not understand why, even after doing all this, the plague still inevitably ravaged the kingdom.

"Someone in the prison took a bribe and let people from outside the city into the prison to visit relatives," Atula said in a deflated tone.

Sevia sighed with emotion.

This country was so corrupt it was simply beyond saving.

"After the plague broke out, too many people died, and the pits that were dug were quickly filled. The captains conspired to hide the truth from the general and embezzled the disaster relief funds; they didn't dig more burial pits, but instead transported the dead outside the city and discarded the bodies at will..."

The living hell she had experienced these past few days was vivid before Sevia's eyes.

The fields were filled with the starving, and corpses floated like driftwood...

"Later, riots began in the kingdom, accelerating the spread of the plague."

"Thus, the disease began to spiral out of control, and the plague ravaged the entire kingdom like a swarm of locusts. By the time the general realized this, the situation was beyond redemption," Atula said heavily.

She was unwilling to admit it, and she did not dare to face the fact that tortured her heart like a nightmare.

Whether or not this kingdom would perish could only be left for time to judge.